Milestones...

As I watch Gray & Will's peers grow up, I am amazed at how different each one is in their development. Some are crawling across the room and pulling to a stand at 5 months, and others are immobile at 12 months, but have a vocabulary of 25 words - all in context. After hovering on all fours and slithering backwards for the last 6 -7 weeks, we finally have forward progression! I wouldn't exactly call it crawling yet, but it is purposeful forward movement which will likely develop into crawling over the next week or so.

I remember back in early December thinking they were going to crawl and any moment...and then I waited...and waited...and waited. I watched them get so frustrated as they did face plants on the floor...I blamed myself for letting them play in the exersaucer, jumperroo or jolly jumper rather then pushing them to crawl, and faulted myself for taking them out for walks rather than pushing them to have more tummy time.

Sometimes I think that Gray and Will chose to take their time in learning to crawl as they wanted to cut their mommy some slack, before they start running me off my toes. :)

At the end of the day, whether a child learns to crawl at 5 months, 12 months or skips crawling all together, as long as they are learning and growing, it doesn't really matter whether they are a few weeks or months behind or ahead of their peers. Milestones are milestones...and each child is on their own journey to reach those milestones. My job as a parent - to support them on the journey and give them the encouragement they need to succeed and the freedom they need to explore.